Identifying Good Managers Through Leadership Competencies
Managers need to have certain competencies to effectively influence the behaviors of others and ultimately achieve desired results. Some leadership competencies come naturally, while others need to be learned and practiced.
Organizations should spend time deciding which leadership competencies they want to see, and identify appropriate training options their managers. These 12 common leadership competencies are a good place to start.
1. Interviewing and hiring
Leaders and managers need to understand the basics of interviewing and hiring. It is important to be prepared for interviews by becoming familiar with the job requirements and candidate qualifications. Being able to identify the right fit for open positions helps ensure the organization secures the best talent.
2. Delegation
Delegation is an art that leaders need to master. This can be difficult for the new manager because it requires handing responsibilities off to others. Learning to trust others to perform tasks takes skill and practice. Once learned, delegation can be very liberating for a manager and allows the manager to perform higher-level tasks.
3. Supervising
This is often a challenge for someone who has not had management experience. Training on what to do and what not to do when managing others can help minimize issues related to supervising skills.
4. Conflict resolution
Conflict in the workplace is an inevitable reality. When not managed properly, conflict can affect relationships between individual people and groups of people. Leaders should be able to manage conflict and help influence win-win situations. This can be done by negotiating and collaborating with all parties.
5. Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a leader’s ability to manage his or her emotional response to people and situations. Emotional intelligence is a mark of professional maturity that can be learned, but can take years to develop and a lifetime to master.
6. Communication skills
Managers need to have good written and verbal communication skills to effectively communicate with employees. There also needs to be structured organizational communication processes that all employees understand to ensure information is filtered throughout the organization.
7. Team building
Leaders need to be able to build strong teams that rally around the vision of the organization. Leaders must understand how to manage team dynamics, team development, and team conflict.
8. Motivating
Leaders need to understand what inspires and motivates employees. There are many different motivation models that can be incorporated into a manager’s strategy for employee motivation. It is important to remember that we are all motivated by different things. The trick is to identify what motivates employees and develop systems and processes that support those motivators.
9. Coaching
Being a good coach can be one of the most rewarding aspects of managing others. Helping employees build on strengths and improve weaknesses is an integral part of the professional development process.
10. Performance management
Managing performance is critical to meeting corporate objectives. Managers need to be able to set expectations, write goals, hold employees accountable, and reward employees for good performance. This also includes coaching and disciplining employees when necessary.
11. Problem solving
Managing people and processes requires problem-solving skills. Problems could be with employees, work processes, or product quality. Management must understand basic problem-solving techniques, be able to identify problems, and facilitate a process to resolve issues.
12. Agent for change
Progressive organizations understand that change is constant and that in order to move forward, organizations need to continually improve what they do and how they do it. Organizations are being forced to make dramatic improvements, not only to compete but to survive in today’s economy. Therefore, leaders need to be able to lead the charge on change initiatives.
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Based on the HRDQ Personality Style Model, here are the four personality types of office workers:
1. Direct. Someone with a direct personality style will have a desk covered with paperwork, though it’s probably organized in piles. They typically prefer to learn independently and are action-oriented, so they may seem impatient or bored in group settings.
Direct personalities tend to use language such as “you must” or “you should.” They also speak loudly and quickly and state their own opinions as facts. Furthermore, these people also have poor listening skills, so if you need to give them instructions, be direct and straightforward in your interaction.
These people constantly feel like they need to be in a hurry and tend to make quick decisions.
2. Spirited. A spirited person usually has a messy desk, Ward writes, with “papers strewn everywhere, along with magazines, receipts, forms, books and other things.” If your employees have a spirited personality, they prefer to learn in groups and enjoy being mentored and attending conferences.
“If you notice someone who resists completing an online self-study program, that is a clue that the individual has a spirited style,” Ward writes.
People with this type of personality tend to exaggerate and talk a lot. They’re very good at beginning new projects, but need a little more encouragement to finish existing ones.
3. Considerate. This type of person’s desk is cluttered, yet they know where everything is. They may also have pictures of serene landscapes, group photos and other personal items prominently displayed.
Considerate people prefer to learn in group settings, especially team-building activities, and they don’t enjoy taking on new projects on a whim.
If you notice “one of your employees requires a lot of hand-holding when you assign her a new project, that is a clue that the employee might have a considerate style,” Ward writes.
People with considerate personalities speak slowly and softly and are often reluctant to offer their own opinions. They listen carefully before they speak and engage in a lot of small talk.
4. Systematic. This personality type usually has a tidy desk clear of papers, except the ones they’re currently working on. They also clean off their desk every night and the only materials visible are job-related, such as graphs and charts.
Systematic people prefer to think independently, may be reluctant to participate in classroom settings and are deadline-driven. They also tend to use precise language and prefer to share facts and data rather than their own opinions. They also have limited small talk and prefer focused conversations.
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3 Things That Separate Leaders From Managers
To build a successful organization, there needs to be a variety of people playing different roles in order for things to run smoothly.
Some of these roles are easily defined while others may have more confusing boundaries, such as the difference between a manager and a leader. You can be a manager and a leader at the same time, but just because you’re a phenomenal leader doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a great manager, and vice-versa, so what’s the real difference?
In his book On Becoming a Leader, Warren Bennis writes about a few crucial differences between a leader and a manager. Here are some key differentiators from the book, as well as insights from Gene Wade, founder and CEO of UniversityNow, and late management guru Peter Drucker.
1. The leader innovates whereas the manager administers. This means that the leader is the one who comes up with new ideas and moves the rest of the organization into a forward-thinking phase. This person has to constantly keep his eyes on the horizon and develop new strategies and tactics. He needs to be knowledgeable about the latest trends, studies and skill sets.
“You got people who are just going to work instead of thinking about why they’re doing what they’re doing, and then you have the leaders,” Wade says.
On the other hand, a manager maintains what has already been established. This person has to keep her eye on the bottom line and maintain control or else there might be disorder within the organization.
In his book The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management: Lasting Lessons from the Best Leadership Minds of Our Time, Alan Murray cites Drucker as saying that a manager is someone who “establishes appropriate targets and yardsticks, and analyzes, appraises and interprets performance.” Managers understand the people who work alongside them and know which person is the best person for specific tasks.
2. The leader inspires trust whereas the manager relies on control. Wade says that a leader is someone who inspires other people to be their best and knows how to appropriately set the tempo and pace for the rest of the group.
“Leadership is not what you do—it’s what others do in response to you,” he says. “If no one shows up at your march, then you’re not really a leader.”
And if people do decide to jump on board because you’ve inspired them, then it means that you have created a bond of trust within the company, which is essential especially if the business is rapidly changing and needs people to believe in its mission.
As for managers, Drucker wrote that their job is to maintain control over people by helping them develop their own assets and bringing out their greatest talents. To do this effectively, you have to know the people you are working with and understand their interests and passions.
The manager then “creates a team out of his people, through decisions on pay, placement, promotion and through his communications with the team.”
“Managing a project is one thing, empowering others is another thing,” Wade says.
3. The leader asks “what” and “why,” whereas the manager asks “how” and “when.” In order to ask “what” and “why,” you have to be able to question others why certain actions are occurring—and sometimes this involves challenging your superiors.
“This means that they’re able to stand up to upper management when they think something else needs to be done for the company,” Wade tells us. “I always tell my folks, ‘I don’t expect to be right all the time. I expect to be wrong a lot.’”
If your company experiences failure, a leader’s job is to come in and say, “What did we learn from this?” and “How do we use this information to clarify our goals or get better at it?”
Instead, managers don’t actually think about what the failure means, Wade says.
Their job is to ask “how” and “when” and to make sure they execute the plan accordingly. Drucker wrote that managers accept the status quo and are more like soldiers in the military. They know that orders and plans are crucial and their job is to keep their vision on the company’s current goals.
Although to the two roles may be similar, “The best managers are also leaders,” Wade says. “I think you can do both, but you have to take the time to cultivate it.”
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TrasDeng 